


Adventurers and Thieves

by hibernate



Category: Doctor Who, Warehouse 13
Genre: F/F, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-27
Updated: 2013-01-27
Packaged: 2017-11-26 04:59:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/646836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hibernate/pseuds/hibernate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When she was little, Helena met a woman named River Song. That, as it turned out, was just the beginning.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Adventurers and Thieves

1.

It is a treasure like she never could have imagined.

Her dress is torn from climbing a tree, and her knees are scraped after getting down from it, but oh, what an adventure! She is like Alice, brave girl wandering through a magic fairytale land, and now she has a treasure.

Charles will be green with envy. She has not been allowed to read _The Coral Island_ , but she has studied every part of the title page, imagined ships and high seas, and listened to Charles talk about pirates. He may be able to read books that she is not allowed, but she is the one who has found a treasure. It shines and sparkles, catching the light that seeps through the tree branches, like her mother's earrings do, sometimes.

A shadow falls over her, dimming the spark of the treasure in her hand. "And who might you be, little one?" the shadow asks, and Helena looks up into the face of a woman, curly hair like a halo around her head.

"I'm Helena," she says. "I'm an adventurer and a pirate."

"Oh, are you now? Did you know, it just so happens that I'm an adventurer too. And an occasional pirate, come to think of it."

Helena beams at the woman, this fellow adventurer and pirate. 

"This is my friend," the adventurer-woman continues, gesturing at a figure behind her, "Lady de Souza."

Her hair is dark, hanging loose around her face, and she is wearing trousers like a man - both of them are, but Helena would expect such things from an adventurer. Not from a Lady. "You don't look like a Lady," she points out.

"Well," Lady de Souza remarks. "You don't look much like an adventurer."

Helena narrows her eyes, glaring at the Lady.

The adventurer-woman chuckles. "Now, now, children. Let's not bicker." With a look back at the Lady, she holds up her arm, moving her fingers over a strange sort of bracelet. "Let's not linger, little one. There's fun to be had elsewhere."

And then they disappear. 

No one believes Helena when she tries to tell them, not even Charles. Nor is he particularly impressed by her treasure, calling it a useless piece of glass. 

When she's grown up, Helena decides, she will truly be an adventurer, like the woman with the curly hair, and she is not going to let anyone stop her.

 

2.

The two women appear straight out of thin air on the other side of the room, entirely unfazed by the Tesla H.G. is pointing in their direction.

"Oh, that outfit is _delightful_ ," the one with the curly hair says, giving H.G. an appreciative look. "Where do you shop?"

"I will shoot you," H.G. warns.

Ignoring both her words and the weapon in her hand, the woman takes a step forward, holding out her hand. "Professor River Song. It's a pleasure to meet you."

H.G. merely stares at her until she lowers her hand. "And your companion. A Lady, was it?"

The Lady - no more than a girl, really - smiles like the sun. "You remember!"

"I thought it a dream for a very long time, but it seems not."

"Lady de Souza," the girl says, curtsying. In her strange, black jacket and trousers, she looks no more Lady-like to H.G. now than she had those twenty-and-some years ago. Spinning around, Lady de Souza looks high and low, seeming more like a child than anything. "This place! Warehouse 12! Oh, River, it's brilliant!"

The woman, this River Song, smirks, hand on her hip. "Hark at me! Taking impressionable young girls under my wing and whisking them off for adventures through time and space. I'm like the Doctor. Only better, because I'm me."

"If you'll excuse me for _interrupting_ ," H.G. snaps. "I am still the one in possession of a weapon. What sort of Artifact are you using?"

"No Artifact," River replies, touching the wide leather-band around her wrist, and reaching out to grasp the Lady's hand. "Just good old-fashioned human ingenuity."

H.G. fires her Tesla, but it is too late: the two women are gone before the electric beams can strike them.

 

3\. 

The next time H.G. meets Professor River Song and Lady de Souza, she finds herself on the wrong end of a sword. There's also a woman there, one who may be some sort of dragon. 

The woman aiming her sword at H.G.'s neck has dark hair and eyes that betray her stance: she is not made for violence, and H.G. is already planning all the ways in which she can reverse their positions.

The other woman, the dragon-woman, all green scales and reptilian grace, is another story. Her sword is pointed at Lady de Souza, and she is very, very serious. "If you know what's good for you," she growls, "you will stay away from that item."

H.G. takes a half-step forward, only to have the sword pushed harder against her chest as the dark-haired woman clears her throat in warning. "You don't understand," H.G. tries to tell her. "That Artifact is dangerous."

"What do you know of such things?" the dragon-woman asks, not taking her eyes off Lady de Souza.

"Look," the Lady says. "If you want it, you're going to have to kill me with that pretty sword of yours, not just wave it around."

For a moment, it looks like that is just what the dragon-woman intends. Fortunately for all of them, a very familiar figure chooses that moment to saunter through the doorway. 

"Ladies," River Song says, cocking her hip and placing her hand there, just below the belt around her waist. "Put your weapons down before someone loses an eye."

"River!" Lady de Souza calls. "They're trying to _kill_ me."

The dragon-woman lowers her sword, marginally. "Professor Song? Is this thief a friend of yours?"

"Friend might be a strong word," River Song replies, casting a stern look at Lady de Souza. "Can I not let you out of my sight for a _second_?"

"But look at it. It's so _shiny_."

"And where did you learn to rappel down from ceilings?"

The Lady smiles, looking quite pleased with herself. "Call it a family secret."

Perhaps H.G. should not be surprised when Professor Song and Lady de Souza somehow manage to disappear, _with_ the Artifact. The dragon-woman and her partner vanish into the shadows as well, and H.G. decides that Chaturanga does not need to know all the details of this particular adventure. 

But in the morning, when her daughter wakes, H.G. tells her a story about a dragon, an adventurer, and a thief, chasing treasure. 

 

4\. 

It's a brand new century, _two thousand and ten_ , and the thought of that gives H.G. vertigo if she stops to consider it. So many things are different, and so many things are the same, too.

It is dark in the bar, and maybe H.G. is a the smallest bit inebriated, but she would recognize that face anywhere, any century. "Long time, no see, darling," she says, sliding down on a chair across the table from her.

River Song looks back at her, a smirk tugging at her lips. "Why, hello there." After a beat, the smirk turns into a full, wide smile. "Doctor River Song, archeologist."

"Oh, I know. We've met."

"Really now?" River leans forward, putting her elbows on the table. "I think I'd remember."

H.G.'s gaze falls to the band around River's wrist. She doesn't know what strange sort of Artifact it is, that makes this woman able to travel through time so easily, but something like it could change everything. She does not belong in this doomed future, this world spun out of control.

This one item, with the power to take her back, might be the only worthwhile thing left.

"It was a hundred years ago," H.G. tells her. "I am somewhat out of my time."

"That makes two of us."

She'd called herself a doctor, yet H.G. had known her as a professor. This River knows nothing of H.G's life. Later, in more private surroundings, River leans back against the wall. "And we've met before, you say? That sounds like quite the coincidence. But then again, that's my favorite thing about time travel. So many surprises."

The skin of her inner arm is soft against H.G.'s fingers, and when her mouth grazes the corner of River's lips, River chuckles. "Very nice, sweetie," she says, wrapping her fingers around H.G.'s wrist, "but this belongs to me."

The bracelet - the one River had claimed was not an Artifact - is in H.G.'s hand, and she looks at River, contemplating her options. H.G. may not have a weapon, like the gun she's glimpsed hidden under River's jacket, but she is skilled in hand-to-hand combat. Yet there is something in River's eyes that makes her hesitate, something hard and dangerous. 

This woman is not what she seems. 

"Very well." H.G. lets the bracelet drop into River's hand. "Nothing but idle curiosity."

Tilting her head, River grins. It doesn't make her look any less dangerous. "Lucky for you," she says, low and seductive. "I've always had a soft spot for thieves." Leaning in closer, breath hot on H.G.'s ear, River whispers. "And for a good mystery."

 

5\. 

Emily doesn't make a habit of listening in, but the two women are arguing quite loudly.

"We're too early," one of them says, a young, dark-haired woman in a leather jacket.

The other woman - older, with the most amazing curly hair - fiddles with her bracelet. "Well, it's not that easy when you're trying not to get yourselves tangled up in your own time-lines. I try to avoid creating any paradoxes before breakfast."

"Since when?"

"Yes, you're right. Pre-breakfast paradoxes are actually my favorite."

The younger woman suddenly turns her attention towards Emily, walking the two steps over to where she's trying to decide between Golden Delicious and Granny Smith. "Hello."

Emily smiles politely. "Can I help you?"

"We're, uh, looking for something. A place called Univille."

"I'm sorry, I don't think I've ever heard of it."

"Oh."

The girl is staring, helpless, and though she is older than Emily's students, she can't help but feel the same tug of protectiveness. "Maybe you could ask the cashier?"

"Yes. Thank you. I'm Christina." She shoots out her hand in a rush, and Emily shakes it, mostly because the poor girl looks like she is about the fall forward in her enthusiasm.

"Emily," she replies. "Christina, that's a pretty name."

The girl smiles, as if Emily just paid her the biggest compliment, before running back to her friend. Shaking off that eerie feeling in the pit of her stomach, the one that strikes her at the strangest moments, Emily turns back to her apples.

 

6\. 

It's quite rude to interrupt someone who's attempting to sacrifice their life for the greater good. 

One moment, H.G. is standing in the Warehouse, looking at Myka through the force-field, trying to communicate everything she never had the opportunity to say in one last look, and the next, she is in someone's garden.

Realizing she's still clinging onto River's arm, H.G. takes a step back, hand coming up to her neck, grasping for a locket that is no longer there. "Where am I?"

"I thought you might want a cup of tea."

"I--what?"

"Take it from me, nearly dying always seems less stressful after a cup of tea," River says, smiling cheerfully. "Or a shot of brandy, but I think my father might frown on that, in the middle of the afternoon. Mind you, my mother would probably join us."

H.G. doesn't quite know what to say to that. The idea of River having a mother and a father in what looks like a perfectly ordinary garden seems far-fetched. 

"Why did you save me?" she asks instead, still not entirely certain she is not simply experiencing a very peculiar near-death hallucination.

"Well, I had to, didn't I? You're going to save my life in the future."

"I am?"

"Time travel." River smirks, as if she knows something H.G. doesn't. "It's always full of surprises."

 

7.

At this point, H.G. can't even be particularly surprised when she catches Lady de Souza rappelling down from the Warehouse ceiling. 

"You best get down from there, young lady," she calls, as the girl reaches for one of the objects on the top shelf. "With _out_ that Artifact you're attempting to steal."

The Lady retracts her arm quickly, but remains swinging from her harness, eying H.G. warily. 

"Lady de Souza," H.G. says, crossing her arms. "We meet again."

"You recognize me?"

"I've encountered you and your time-traveling friend, yes."

"River? Oh, but that means..." The girl smiles brightly. "I'm going to save her and you're going to help me!"

"We shall see about that. How did you get in here?"

"Oh, it was easy. I parked my bus on the roof."

"You... _what_?" When the girl merely shrugs, H.G. continues, "You're going to explain everything to me, right now."

Lady de Souza takes a deep breath, and then the words tumble out of her in a rush. "Look, it's very complicated and I think bad things will happen if I tell you. Suffice it to say, my archeology professor is from the future and also kind of completely mad, and I seem to have ended up with a flying bus. Forgive me if I'm a little bit unhinged right now."

"You have a _flying bus_?"

" _Yes_." Lady de Souza rolls her eyes, as if such things were commonplace. They might be where she comes from, for all that H.G. knows. Claudia would be ecstatic if she heard. 

"And now," the girl continues, "I have to go rescue my loony archeology professor from a library."

The last thing H.G. wants is to trust this girl, or River Song for that matter. But River had managed to save H.G. from certain death, and around the girl's wrist is a very familiar leather-band. "If I let you take that Artifact... you're going to use it to save River's life?"

"In a manner of speaking."

Saying a silent prayer to herself that Artie never finds out, H.G. exhales. "Just... leave. Take the Artifact, and leave. And tell River Song that this makes us even."

 

8\. 

Helena stares at the falsified identification card in her hand. 

"Where did you get this name from?" she asks, interrupting Myka's argument with Artie over the Farnsworth.

Artie leans in closer to his Farnsworth, face distorting on the view-screen. "What do you think?" he snaps. "I made it up, like always. I have a rich imagination. Now get back to work."

Closing the Farnsworth, Myka looks at Helena, face full of fondness and concern, and reaches out to put her hand on her arm, thumb stroking gently over her sleeve. "Is something wrong?"

"No," Helena says. "The name sounded familiar, that is all."

Eying the card and the name next to the picture of herself, Helena runs her thumb across the letters: _Helena Souza_.

 

9.

River Song is waiting in Myka's room when H.G. walks in. "I'm taking you for a trip," she says, and the secretive smile on her lips instantly makes H.G. suspicious.

It's a sunny morning in London, where River takes her, and through the iron bars of the fence, Helena can see a child in a dress playing in the garden. She spends long moments doing nothing but watching, committing every smallest detail to memory. 

It is more strain than her heart was built for.

"Can I talk to her?" she asks, finally.

River's voice is gentle. "Not here."

She takes Helena's hand once again, and before Helena has the time to plead for just a few moments more, River has again activated the technology hidden in the leather-band around her wrist. 

The house is on fire around them, the smell of burning wood doing nothing to settle the way Helena's stomach is protesting after the second jump in time. A few beats of disorientation are followed by anger, as Helena realizes where they are. It steals her breath, the unimaginable cruelty of being brought to this place.

"Why did you take me here?" she asks, tearing her hand away from River's. "I've seen this, I've been here. _Why_ would you..."

River opens the door in front of them, revealing a child's room. The girl on the floor would look peacefully asleep, were it not for the gash on her forehead. "There are fixed points in time, you know," River says. "Things that even I can't change."

Crossing the room, River carefully lifts up Christina's unmoving body. "This, however, is not one of them."

With that, she hauls the child over to Helena, who can do nothing but cling to her daughter. The smoke is thickening around them, making her chest burn, but Christina is breathing. If anyone tries to take her now, they will have to pry Helena's cold, dead arms away from her.

River puts her arms around them both, holding them close as Helena feels time move around them again. "I don't understand," she says when they are back in Myka's room, and her voice is hoarse and scratchy from the smoke.

Christina wakes up, coughing in her arms and instantly commanding all of Helena's attention. 

She barely hears River's words, softly spoken behind her. "I like to unite families. It's a bit of a specialty, you might say."

 

10.

Christina is asleep, tucked into Myka's bed with the covers up to her chin. At some point, Helena thinks, she may have to leave the child alone for oh, a minute or so, but that time is not yet. 

The floor-boards behind her creek, and Helena exhales. "We need to have a talk about your extra-curricular activities."

" _Mom_." Helena turns around just in time to see Christina de Souza roll her eyes. "Most of it was Artifacts. I'll have you know I'm quite the expert at retrieving Artifacts from high-security facilities."

"I'm sure you are."

Christina looks at the child on the bed. "I shouldn't be too close to her. It's a paradox. I think River is a bit too fond of them."

It is strange to imagine her Christina growing up to be this woman, but Helena can see it now, in her eyes and in her smile. Not to mention that she seems to have adopted Myka's love of boots and leather jackets. She sighs when Helena envelops her in a hard embrace, and Helena does not have to see her face to know that she is rolling her eyes. 

"There," Helena says when they part. "You should get back to your own time. I'm sure I'm very worried about you, in the future."

"You always worry."

"That's because I'm your mother and you're a _thief_."

"Of Artifacts! Mostly!"

Helena brushes non-existent dust off Christina's shoulder, keeping her voice casual. "Tell River that if she lets anything happen to you, I will track her down and kill her."

"Oh my God, Mother!"

Helena hugs her once more, because she does not think she will see this grown-up version of her daughter again for quite some time. "And also," she says, when she lets Christina go. "Tell her... thank you."

Once, long ago, she had told her daughter stories of adventurers and treasures, and time had twisted around itself to create this intricate maze of events. 

The Warehouse is full of endless wonder and unlikely events, and so, it seems, is the rest of the universe.


End file.
